Saturday 17th June - Berking up the wrong tree.

Full sun, light winds; if we don't do a 99.9 soon we'll want shooting. Berkeley it is!!!!

I'll do my best to make the distance so you've got no excuse.

Route out will be Congresbury, Yatton, Nailsea Belmont and tri-option will be Bristol.

If anyone wants a more fulfilling ride I suggest you go back via Oxford with Richard and Neil whilst us mortals hobble straight home (could be a two stopper though) hopefully we'll get back before dusk.

As Ivan says - barking up the wrong tree in view of not going to Berkeley. Instead of which we poodled up to Bristol.

Only five at Priory. Steve with bad knee and Lofty and me needing to get back looked like Ade was going to Berkely with Welsh Rob. Nick joined us at Puxton but I think it was already decided that we were all going to stop in Bristol. We kept a good speed up all the way to Belmont where some tosser on a motorbike shot past. Nice to see Ivan again though. After a brief chat at the top we set off together along Beggar Bush Lane. I say together, that included man with machine and we duly lined up behind for a fast run. Despite being motor paced it was difficult for Ivan to judge what speed to maintain and a couple of us felt we'd done it quicker without assistance. Strava seems to confirm this. The only one to bag a top ten was Nick who didn't actually follow the motorbike! Got a few strange looks from other cyclists!

The road around the downs was closed for some reason so as per usual we ignored the signs and rode round anyway. Got a bit worried as we went past the coned off part indicating 5k or 2.5k run. Nice of them to hand out the free water though. Oh - were we not meant to take it?

At the garden centre in Over we found Ivan's motorbike parked up. We wondered whether or not we could get it onto a roof. We decided it was best not to and went round to the cafe where Ade tried his best to keep Britain tidy by riding his Raleigh into the rubbish bin. No need to have 40 winks waiting for food this time. Service was prompt and precise. Nick spoke fondly about how a famous Jamaican musician turned his hand to the manufacture of roofing products, even managing to get some products into his songs such as: "I Roofed the Terrace". Apparently if you buy a full set of Marley tiles you can create a large image of Bob on your roof.

There was talk of meeting up again with Ivan in Clevedon for an ice-cream in view of the hot weather. Seemed like a good plan apart from the fact that not everyone made it to Clevedon and Ivan had actually gone to Yatton. Wasn't Ivan's fault. Nick had powered us all along from Portishead to Clevedon and we waited just past the mini roundabout on the road leading into Clevedon town centre for Rob and Steve. They, however, had cut the corner and started heading across Kenn Moor. Ivan had spotted them so rode into Yatton for three ice-creams. After waiting 5 minutes, Ade, Lofty, Nick and me decided we'd missed Steve and Rob and set off to catch them up. Nick and I passed them both on Keen Moor and arrived in Yatton to be met by Ivan with thee ice lollies but not for the three people he thought would turn up! When Steve and Rob eventually arrived Ivan had kindly gone back to the shop for more ice lollies and we sat in the shade and enjoyed a brief rest.

After leaving Yatton Lofty, Steve and me slogged down the A370 into a headwind. Traffic was quite busy round and about but we all got home safely.

OJC: 1 (Steve), TTCR: 8/10, KFC: 7/10